Wisp
A wisp is a special ghost form available to night elves based on a racial ability that allows faster travel when dead to get to their corpse. A wisp looks like a misty, glowing ball of light, with a vaguely discernible Night Elf face, that floats some distance above the ground. The term also applies to friendly fey nature spirits who build night elf structures and gather resources for them (in Warcraft games previous to World of Warcraft). These wisps also have the power to detonate, causing a backlash of mana, and can become Ancients. Several thousand of them, known as the Ancestral Spirits gathered at the call of the Horn of Cenarius to Nordrassil to destroy Archimonde. Description The glowing ball of light hovers a few feet off the ground. Within the eldritch glow, you can just make out the translucent features of an elven face. Wisps are mysterious “forest spirits” of unknown origin. They are dedicated to the well-being of night elf forests. They are connected to the forest on a supernatural level rivaling that of Cenarius’ children; indeed, many believe that wisps often evolve into mighty ancient protectors and other creatures. Wisps play a major role in night elf life by creating and repairing their wooden structures. Wisps show little intelligence, free will or selfinterest. They appear to exist purely to serve the will of the night elves. A tremendous number of wisps were destroyed at the end of the Third War in Malfurion’s gamble to destroy Archimonde. As a result, they are nowhere near as numerous as before the Third War, but nevertheless they play an integral part in the lives of all night elves. Some human scholars think that wisps are the souls of deceased night elves, but these claims have yet to be proven. Combat Wisps avoid combat. They follow night elf orders, which usually means they act as support troops, healing ancients and repairing night elf structures. They detonate if ordered to do so, or if they cannot flee. Detonate A wisp can sacrifice itself. Creatures within 30 feet suffer the simultaneous effects of the spells banishment, dispel magic, and mana burn. Renew A wisp may heal an ancient, plant or wooden structure. The wisp must touch the plant or structure, and it heals it. Harvest Lumber Wisps have the ability to safely extract wood from a tree without damaging or harming the plant. This is a slow process, but over the course of a day, a single wisp can produce about 20 pounds of lumber from a large tree. Work Wood Wisps have the capability to mold wood into nearly any form. A wisp can change the shape of up to a 5-foot cube of wood, shifting the wood’s dimensions at will. This potent ability allows wisps to swiftly create structures for the night elves. thumb|A Spirit of Summer Non-Combat Pet During the Midsummer Fire Festival in 2006, players could complete a quest (A Light in Dark Places) which rewarded the player with a captured flame, which could be used to activate a non combat pet called Spirit of Summer which had the appearance of a red wisp. The Midsummer Fire Festival reoccurred in 2007, and the same quest was required to get the Spirit of Summer. It should be noted that a reasonably well-geared level 70 player (preferably pure DPS or a high-armor healer i.e. Shaman or Paladin) was able to solo through the four instances to get the pet, provided that they had the keys to open the instances. April Fool's In late March 2006, Wisps were announced to be the new race for the Alliance in the upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. The announcement, however, was a prank orchestrated by Blizzard Entertainment to fool their gaming community. The prank consisted of a racial info page which explained the lore behind the new race and included several of the upcoming racial traits such as Detonate, Permanent Death, and Treeform (with increased vulnerability to axes). Character customization consisted of a wide variety of colors and facial hair. In early April 2006, it was announced that the Wisp race was nothing more than a joke created by the Blizzard Joke Squad™ and the racial page was removed from the the official expansion website. The real new Alliance race was eventually announced as the Draenei. External links Official Wisp April Fools Racial Info Page Category:Wisps Category:Fey Category:Uncategorized Creatures Category:Creatures Category:Mobs Category:City:Darnassus